


Roseate

by NascentSunbeam



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Ahsoka novel, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Implied Relationships, Post-Episode: s02e02 Relics of the Old Republic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-04
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-22 00:32:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9573971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NascentSunbeam/pseuds/NascentSunbeam
Summary: Reunion fic.Ahsoka saw in his eyes the vibrancy of his hope. Here they were; in a galaxy full of people, they kept finding each other.





	

Ahsoka stopped in her tracks. She had been halfway down the hall headed back to the Rebel Command Center when she felt it. Felt _him_. A presence in the Force so warm and bright she would recognize it anywhere, and her heart _leapt_. She felt her breath hitch as she turned. She saw the friendly faces of the Ghost crew, and noted Kanan’s wearied but genuine smile and Ezra’s happily excited grin.

 

And then Ahsoka saw him pass through the crowd with his familiar swagger. Rex came to attention in the confident posture she had known so well, a hint of a smile on his face and his voice like music to her montrals.

 

“Commander.”

 

She was grinning as she moved forward, eyes locking with his honey-hued orbs, and she felt through the Force as much as saw the utter joy he felt reflected there.

 

His eyes barely flickered up and down. “You got old,” he appraised, and just as when she was young, she could hear from his cadence the unspoken words he was also saying; the tender apology that they had lost so much time, that the limitations of his biology had stolen from them what could have been in some universe a long and happy friendship _together_ and not instead what they seemed to be: star-crossed.

 

And yet, she saw in his eyes the vibrancy of his hope. _Here_ they were; in a galaxy full of people, they kept finding each other. She laughed. Maybe not so star-crossed after all.

 

“Had to happen sometime, Rex.” She saw his eyes flutter almost barely, but through them shined utter _devotion_ and Ahsoka made to speak but found her breath hitching again. She had loved many people across the galaxy, but Rex's voice had always been a constant thrum at the back of her mind, whose lessons she found to be among the most invaluable to her as she made to not only survive in an Imperial galaxy but lead others in rebellion against a corrupt regime. Rex’s leadership had been a model for her, an aspiration as she led the rebellion as Fulcrum. He was, she thought, one of the greatest, kindest, worthiest men in the entire universe.

 

She had 15 years to traverse the galaxy alone, and now, Ahsoka fully embraced what she had always hidden away as a Padawan: she loved Rex. He’d playfully warned her when they’d first met to not get attached, and so naturally, she’d done just that first thing after meeting him. And all those years was a long time to nurture a love so tender and pure.

 

All this she wanted to express, _and more_ , but she found the words stuck in her throat because now was not the time nor place, so instead she thought to herself _“Kriff it,”_ and passionately threw her arms around her Captain’s neck. His surprise was only brief, and then he returned her embrace with an earnestness that made her heart want to burst. She breathed into him, not caring that the Ghost crew undoubtedly stared. She took him in, feeling his warmth, reveling in simply having him with her again.

 

It was as if they hadn’t even been apart for so long, for they still understood each other perfectly. She could feel from his embrace he knew the myriad of her feelings, that he was experiencing the same himself. She felt soothed by his warm hands on the middle of her back, gently brushing against the underside of her back lek. His voice reverberated pleasantly against her montrals. “I’m glad you’re still alive.”

 

“You too,” she pulled again and let her hands linger on his shoulders, savored the way his hands brushed along her hips before falling away. He gave her his usual sardonic grin and she almost couldn’t believe that here they were, and everything yet nothing was the same.

 

“Well, I wouldn’t be, if it weren’t for these guys.” He motioned to the Ghost crew and Ahsoka smiled brightly.

 

“Thank you, for saving my friend.” She was grateful to them, sincerely, even if she sensed Kanan’s extreme agitation and Rex’s own unease through the Force. She would have to help that both men adjust to that, she knew. She’d add it to the list.

 

There was so much to do.

 

* * *

 

They quickly made their way to the Command Center, a tactical decision on Ahsoka’s part for two reasons. First, it was imperative that the Rebellion analyze the information Rex compiled as soon as possible; they needed every small advantage they could get. But beyond that, Ahsoka knew that the place Rex would feel most at ease would be the place he was meant to be; on the deck with his CO. It was the best way she could familiarize him with their operation and hopefully help his transition. Given that she would need to smooth things over between Rex and Kanan, she would do what she could now to set up the former to relax, as much as an old soldier knew how to at any rate.

 

She introduced him to Commander Sato and other key crew members and then they set to work. A simple overview tonight, she had agreed for everyone’s sake. Just a cursory recap of the mission to Seelos and introduction to the intelligence to allow those who could grasp a decent enough understanding to begin confirming the intel. Then, they would rest.

 

Ahsoka felt a happy thrill when she saw Rex’s relaxed posture and the way he naturally fell back into Captain mode, expounding upon the trove of information he had provided them. She studied the way he had aged. He seemed slightly broader and his body not as defined as during his youth - but as she examined him, it really was only _slightly_ less so. He had aged and that was to be expected, yet she nevertheless recognized the disciplined habit of a soldier defined in the muscles of his arms and beneath his armor, etched in the lines of his face. He’d probably done what he could to stay in shape; he always was a man to take to learning and growing as much as he could. He’d been a sharp, strategic complement to Skywalker in the 501st for a reason.

 

Ahsoka also spied the way age had tugged at his features, beneath his eyes and the obvious white of his beard. She had to admit to herself, she was intrigued by the beard. He had always kept his hair buzzed short; she had playfully rubbed it occasionally in her youth but had never felt its texture beyond that of soft fuzz. She didn’t have too much experience with hair, having none herself. Barriss had hair, at first long and lovely and flowing, and then short after she fell. Kaeden Larte had intricate hair. Ahsoka had always been interested in what their hair had felt like.

 

…Ahsoka wondered what Rex’s beard felt like.

 

She was distracted, she knew. She enjoyed listening to Rex, to be sure, but as soon as the others began to fill in their parts of the report of their encounter with the Empire on Seelos, Ahsoka found her mind wandering. This wasn’t going as quickly as she wanted. As much as she wanted to know what had happened (her montrals perked when Ezra mentioned Rex was initially going to _stay behind_ ), she also wanted to go to the source directly.

 

She was grateful when the Ezra yawned mid-sentence, and Hera quickly used that as the cue to arrange a graceful departure - they could talk further later, she reasoned. The crew slowly filtered out, Zeb playfully mocking Ezra’s tiredness and Sabine sharing a curious look with Hera. Ahsoka also nodded to Hera as she passed, and whispered in a low voice, “Thank you.”

 

Hera gave Ahsoka a knowing smile. “Old friends are rare to come by in this galaxy. You should take the time to catch up while you can. I can tell how much want to.” Ahsoka gave her a confused glance but Hera eyed Rex, then gestured to Ahsoka’s lekku. Ahsoka looked down and almost gasped. She hadn’t realized how vibrant the patterns were, nor had she heeded the excited twitching they gave off. But of course Hera would understand the similarities between their head-tails, and know the meaning of Ahsoka’s unconscious physical reactions. Ahsoka flushed, her lekku turning an even darker inky blue.

 

She belatedly realized that if Hera picked up on the lekku signs, then Kanan may have as well…she filed another mental note away to speak with the man later. She didn’t want him getting the wrong idea about why she asked him to recruit a clone when it would be so painful for him, given his experience barely surviving Order 66. Rex would be invaluable to their operation because he was invaluable to _her_ ; she would need to be strategic in getting the Jedi to understand that.

 

But Ahsoka wouldn’t worry about Kanan right now. She had Hera to run interference there, and right now Hera’s smile was conspiratorial; she wasn’t going to let Ahsoka dawdle any longer.

 

 As Ahsoka turned to Rex she noticed he too was keenly aware of the brilliance of her coloring, was observing the excited twitches each lek produced. He had a satisfied look on his face; Ahsoka knew she couldn’t flush any further than she already was. She had almost forgotten that he, too, could read lekku. Even more, he wasn’t put off by what he was reading; though none of the other crew would be able to tell, she knew him well enough to tell from his relaxed posture and easy smile how thrilled he was.

 

They fell into familiar step with one another as she began to guide them through the hallways of the ship. She debated where to go; to take him directly to her room would be awfully forward and while she had little doubt he would not object if the fire in his eyes was any indication, she still felt it more proper to ease into this a little slower. It had been a long time, after all. So she instead decided on the mess, where they could get comfortable by sharing a warm drink, an old tradition from the Clone Wars.

 

She reveled in the soothing warmth of his arm brushing against hers. “We have caf. Just as good as in the GAR.”

 

“So, barely passable then?” He always had a way of making her laugh.

 

“And yet you always drank it,” she countered.

 

“So I did.” He shrugged, but she could tell from his smile that he likely felt happier than he had in years. She felt it too…something about being with him, being Rex and Ahsoka _together_ just felt _right_.

 

* * *

 

They had been talking for hours. Ahsoka felt giddy, and she also felt slightly self-conscious that her behavior was more akin to her 16-year-old teenage self than the mature and more somber woman she had become. Not that she minded; Rex’s own face was flushed with happiness, and Ahsoka found she enjoyed looking at the way the rose color in his cheeks stood in such stark contrast to the snowy beard. They were sitting close, beyond even casually brushing against one another; Ahsoka’s weight was fully resting against Rex, and she reveled in feeling him so near to her again. They were not bothering to pretend that they were anything other than ecstatic to see the other, but Ahsoka imagined Rex also shared that her same feeling of awe the other was actually, _corporeally_ , there. She held his hand, soaking in the feeling of his thumb brushing against her palm.

 

They had reminisced and then filled in the gaps of missing years. But there was still something she wanted to know.

 

“Ezra mentioned that you initially wanted to stay behind.” She gave him a piercing look. For the first time all evening, he looked uneasy in her presence, and he looked away from her. _Oh no, you_ _’re not going to avoid this,_ she thought. “Why didn’t you want to come? Not even to see me?”

 

“I was being foolish, Ahsoka,” he said quietly, before looking at her with an expression she wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him wear before. “I had convinced myself after all this time _you_ didn’t really need to see _me._ I hadn’t read your messages at that point,” he held up a hand to stay her question, “Wolffe had hidden them from me. By the time I found out we had more _Imperial_ things to worry about.” His dry, dark sense of humor was still intact; Ahsoka had noted during the briefing that Zeb seemed to quickly take to Rex’s wit. It was something she admired about her Captain; he recognized the little things that helped rally his troops together.

 

But Ahsoka knew all too well that his sense of humor was also cover for painful thoughts, and she knew that whatever he was going to say, it was difficult for him. “You thought I wouldn’t want to see _you_ , Captain?” It was such an unfathomable thought.

 

“I wasn’t sure you’d want to see an _old clone_ like me.” He admitted, his eyes steady on her. He was able to register the slight droop of her lids in sad acknowledgment of his fear, his inner judgment. “The truth is, Ahsoka, I don’t have as much time as you in this galaxy. And part of me wondered if you would just be better off focusing on other things, not worrying about me. You’ve had enough loss in your life,” he closed his eyes, swallowing hard. When he found the words to continue, he said in a rough voice, “For half a moment, I thought you’d be happier not having to have and lose me again.”

 

 _Oh, Rex_ , her heart ached for him. Younger, they had always been a solid support for each other, even considered the other among best friends. Ahsoka realized as Rex spoke that over the course of 15 years they had both fallen in love with the idea of being together again, had seen each other as a small beacon of hope in such a dark galaxy. But Rex had feared she didn’t think of him in such a way. _Oh, Rex_.

 

She frowned, her head shaking slowly. He pressed on. “And then I was almost blown to bits by a walker and I realized what a damned old fool I was being.” Ahsoka laughed.

 

“Good.”

 

She couldn’t resist any longer. She turned squarely to face him, placing her hands upon his face, her fingers stroking his beard - _It was so soft! -_  and kissed him. She felt heat spread through her body to the very tips of her fingers and toes, up into her montrals and down through her curved lekku, and that heat only grew as she felt his warm, large hands span her hips, slide around to her back to hold her there as he fervently, blissfully returned the favor.

 

They pulled away, both breathless, eyes wide as if they couldn’t believe what they had just done, and Ahsoka couldn’t contain a Togrutan-trill and the grin spreading across her now tender lips.

 

“What?” Her Captain raised an eyebrow. Despite his joy, he looked a bit…unsure of himself.

 

“It’s just…I’ve wanted to do that forever!” She admitted. He laughed and kissed her again.

 

“Me too,” he spoke the words against her mouth, and her stomach flipped at the sound of his deep voice.

 

Ahsoka belatedly realized that given how often the rebel crew made their way to the mess they would be found out quick if they continued at this rate, but then she also realized that being the de-facto leader of the rebellion, there was no one really who was going to say she _couldn_ _’t_. The Jedi Order was gone, he wasn’t in the GAR, they didn’t officially report to each other anymore…life was different. The galaxy had changed so much, and though she felt the deep loss of that shift, she also realized she was now in a time and place where she and Rex were possible. She chuckled to herself, her lips still locked on his.

 

“There you go again,” he moved from her lips to press a gentle kiss to one montral. “I didn’t realize this would be so funny to you.”

 

“I was just thinking about how there’s no one here who outranks me,” she gave him a conspiratorial look. “Which means there’s no one to tell us we _can_ _’t_ do this…”

 

He laughed as he caught on. “Ah, the perks of being in command.” Her grin grew even wider.

 

Wordlessly they were both in motion, hand in hand, and she began to lead them to her quarters. “To be fair, I’m pretty sure I noticed that’s a perk some of your other crew already enjoy. Though it doesn’t seem to have made that Kanan fellow any less uptight…” Ahsoka was sure she had laughed more in the past few hours than she had over half her lifetime. Over the time they had been talking she had noted the ways Rex hadn’t changed; he was astute in his observations of her crew, as he was in everything.

 

“I’m impressed, Rexter. Twi’lek tails aren’t entirely the same as Togruta.”

 

“Close enough.”

 

“I never realized you had become so proficient in reading it.” She felt that heat rising again in her body from the way he was looking at her.

 

“We spent a long time together, Commander.”

 

“Uh-huh, and apparently you spent a lot of that time looking at my lekku,” she teased him and was incredibly satisfied when he not only didn’t deny it but let the back of his index finger brush down the lek nearest to him. She shivered with excitement.

 

“Well, they were my best guess as to your mood any given day, I figured it was a good idea to study up,” he was so relaxed as he said it his words were almost belied the fact that the way he was touching her lek was _anything_ but casual.

 

“I am curious…” she started.

 

“Yes?”

 

“If you could read lekku all that time, you must have known how I felt, yes?”

 

His self-satisfied smile was back. “I…caught on quickly enough, yes. Though to be fair, ‘Soka, you were never really subtle about _anything_.”

 

“Isn’t that the truth. I _was_ my Master’s Padawan.” And now he was the one belly-laughing.

 

“But I will admit,” they were at the threshold of her quarters now, and the way his voice rumbled low sent a thrill of anticipation through her. “I have always wanted to do this.” His finger lingered at the tip of her left lek and she found she couldn’t contain herself anymore. Punching in her code, she motioned for him to follow her.

 

“Well, then, come along, Captain. I believe we have some more ‘perks of command’ to enjoy.”

**Author's Note:**

> My own take on this scene, because that hug kills me every time and also there is no way that is a platonic Disney hug. Nuh-uh.


End file.
